Saturday, April 18, 2015

I went with classic DnD ocre skin, and took the oriental themes in the model into account for colors- so this goblin pack should double as XP grinds for both oriental adventurers and western dungeon bashers alike.

The rest of the goblins will be dressed in all kinds of colored fabrics to help identify each in combat. The skin, metals and green hair will tie them together a bit.

And since I was in FiendFactory mode here is more stuff...

Uh, Oh... Spongebob Squarepants is fucked!

The Angel of Hell, or as I like to call it- Evolved Squidworth. This photo really doesn't do the glazing justice... The orange windsor and newton over white in the eyes really pops off the gaming table.

I have a lot of projects to get through, but it would be cute to redo this model with a modern eye from Rus' Original Fiend Folio art. (Anyone got a PDF?). I realised halfway through that I could have asked him what colors he imagined this blighter... I am currently working with him on a private comission and have his email. Doh!

I love FF stuff because it is kinda like a turd polish challenge... Plus I get to experience old school at its oldest.

Friday, April 17, 2015

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the emails and facebook messages showing support for my decision to be openly trans, intersex, lesbian and completely unable to settle on a basing standard. Plus all the lovely baby congrats!

There are just too many and some are quite long and heartfelt, and deserve more than a 'ta very much luv'. I hope to get back to everyone eventually.

Your support is really important to me!

So last night was my first night with some hobby time in aeons. Actual, literal aeons.* Strange aeons, at that.

[*Oh stop it, your thinking in linear time and space, mere mortal. ]

My focus at the moment is cleaning up and storing so I can get dust and sand free to finish my commissioned mini sculpts. One day I will have a separate clean desk and a dirty desk. Mmm. dirty desk.

To that end, I just rebased my Fiend Factory goblins from 30mm ply down to 1" round bases ready for some old school dungeon bashing fun.

Fuckity fuck, these little fuckers are fuckers.

The spear shafts snap easily, are thin (not DnD collectors series thin though- still grrr) and seemingly hard to fix.

To solve the problem, I sliced mine off an hand and haft (great pub name) and rebuilt the naganata by threading thin wire through metal pipe from a railway hobby store. I could not find any flexible plasticard or nylon tubes- which are better because they will bend back rather than snap. Broom bristles make awesome pikes that won't spear you through your hand.

I am tossing up whether to headswap and augment them to make a little variation, but not sure yet. I am not overly fond of these minis.

Now that the whole team is on 25mm rounds rather than 30mm ply, they fit in a small tray and fit neatly into my overflowing FF box. A few more sessions like this and I may be able to move.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

To coincide with the end of The Old World... Here is my son Tobias! Ain't he a cutie?

This kit is awesome. Though it takes two people nine months to assemble and you are not really supposed to paint it beyond a tiger or spiderman face once in a while. Costs slightly more than your average Warhammer army, but it does not require gluing and the sprue is a single cut to remove. There are no rules or instructions supplied, but it will keep us both entertained for decades.

This little blighter is all thanks to the wonder and miracle of hard, medical science. Thanks to the hundreds if not thousands of hard working people behind IVF, dopplers, safe Caesarian section, rhesus negative anti-d, heart rate monitors and, most of all, to those who donated the 2.5 litres of blood required to save my wife's life.

Donated blood recently? (I mean, not offered to the hobby desk boggart through the rite of slipped scalpels?). It would be lovely if you did.

My 30mm bevel bases are great, but I am having issues with them. Let's talk about that, shall we?

Yes. We shall.

So first problem is that some early minis look just swamped by their bases. True 25mm scale need so much decoration to fill the void, it is eating into painty sculpty time. So that is a concern, but only on some figures.

Problem numero two is that I am running short on display and storage space. Space is a hard thing these days. Also the bases do not fit doorways easily so my city scenery is cramped and tricky to use.

Third problem is I am running low on 30mm multibases and money is getting tight.

So the obvious solution was to downsize to 25mm bases for figures that need it... stick to 30mm for the rest. Basically use the bevel as the constant. This also means some models can have hex bases (Talisman) and so long as the topping i similar it all looks unified. I did some tests and liked the result.

80's Skeletons and zombies looked particularly swamped. This test warband nails it for me- they can swarm together suitably Harryhausen style.

I played with Renedra bases for a little while, and they are still great for gaming. However, I decided the bevel let me pick up the mini by the base- so better for display details like mushrooms and ferns. My collection is part gamer, part painter, part collector. It make sense to have the base as handle.

I also like the black edge as it is what I grew up with. Renedra is great for gaming minis because of the low profile, and is the next best thing to washers (but the paint sticks nicely). I will still ship my minis with Renedra by default.

Another thing that ha been bugging me with my standard system is that it does not quite conjure the mossy, burn scrub from John Blanches paintings. Tufts also look out of place.

So to that end upgraded my dirt mix from beach sand to a special blend of flock (sawdust), wood chips and pet store shellsand, to give a more John Blanchey scrub feel to the base when tinted with scorched brown and olives. The goal is to have that rotten, mossy feel where you are like 'what the hell is that? Feel. I want to hide details in the base and have people go 'hey look..'

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

I love dog minis, so even though I am not fond of the style of Marauder Miniatures, I still got excited when I found this in my mate Pete's box of delights. I pushed this one up the queue because I wanted to show Pete that his donated figures are in good (and grateful) hands.

I started with natural ghoul greys highlighted in menoth white base but was attacked by the demon 'fukdisforralaff' and changed to crazy chaos mode.

I feel the trick with minis you do not like stylistically is to go all out batshit crazy on them. We all know just how prone to serious mental disorders guano can be.

Stay frosty people <3

[Lgbtiq bit:]. Speaking of bats... DC comics not only gave us a lipstick lesbian batwoman (and a redhead too) but recently announced Catwoman is officially bisexual. The original, retired Catwoman Selina Kyle is to be involved romantically with the current Catwoman). This is massively important, because erasure of bisexual identity is a real problem, even in LGBTIQA communities. Just youtube the Anna Paquin interview on bisexuality and you can see it in practice. I had the pleasure of discussing this with a fired up bisexual friend recently and she got me all fired up about the problem too! Some people like chocolate, some people like strawberry. Some are happy with either (or both in one bowl). And that's that.

I like mint choc with the chocolate picked out. That isn't a metaphor by the way.

Well done DC! I must get some DC minis to celebrate. I hope Marvel makes Spider Gwen a polyamorous pansexual.